


Nighttime Dance

by unlockthelore



Series: Twilight Mirage [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Coping, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Sleeping Together, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23139637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unlockthelore/pseuds/unlockthelore
Summary: Xion has a hard time sleeping at night but Roxas fares no better.
Relationships: Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Twilight Mirage [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663300
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Nighttime Dance

**Nighttime Dance**

Xion jolted upright with a sharp inhale, a sheen of light blinding her along with a familiar weight in her hand. A soft clink and a jingle drew her attention to the token lying in her lap attached to the chain leading to the hilt and guard of the key blade brandished at the dark shadows of her bedroom. She breathed in deeply, sucking in as much air as possible, releasing it through her nose slowly.

Gradually lowering her hand, the Keyblade vanished in a sheen of light and her fingers trembled. Although she knew every inch of this room from her desk with the cork board adorned with photographs and scraps of papers from her adventures to the stacks of books on the floor, and her collection of sea shells and star-shaped marbles on the bookshelf.

Her curtains pulled aside allowed silvery moonlight to stream through, casting a shadow across the floor.

It wasn’t anyone else’s to her relief. Just her own.

And yet somehow, that wasn’t comforting at all.

Drawing her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them firmly and stared up at the moon. It wasn’t the heart-shaped prison that she had been helping to create. Rounded with small craters here and there, but otherwise untouched by her own hand or anyone else’s. It was almost comforting to see and she wondered what that light would look like reflected off the waves of Destiny Island’s sea. It was far too late to go sight-seeing, besides, Axel and Roxas would worry if she took off on her own to another world at night no less.

And the last thing she wanted to do was worry them after they’d all been through so much.

Guilt wrested in her stomach and she pressed her forehead to her knees, trying to rid herself of the image of their eyes. Axel pleading with her to simply return to how things were before. Roxas, confused and at the center of a conspiracy he wasn’t even aware of, just wanting to be friends again with no strings attached.

It was naïve but they both had been. They were simply following orders, trying to find where they belonged, and they found one another.

And that was the cruel irony.

They found solace in one another when they were each other’s greatest enemy. But now, they were each other’s greatest strength as well. Xion’s lips parted and she lifted her head, staring up at the sky.

After a moment, she shifted from beneath her blankets and slowly set her feet upon the ground feeling the cold chill from the flooring. Axel complained about it often and even told Isa they should think about carpeting all the floors. Isa refuted that the mansion should be left as it was made. Aside from decorating, they shouldn’t do anything strenuous.

No one argued with him on that. In hindsight, Axel might have been trying to lift the mood or erase painful memories. But those weren’t likely to fade.

Xion grasped her blankets a bit tighter then tugged them, bundling them up in her arms and following the trail of mess on her floor to the door. It was a juggling act opening the door while keeping the blankets from spilling over but she managed somehow. Easing her door shut behind her, she glanced down one hall then the other, somewhat disturbed by the silence.

It wasn’t unlike the Castle.

However, even there Nobodies were wandering about making some sort of noise in a way that they did. She would’ve been grateful even to see one of them slinking about the halls tidying things up or doing that strange wiggle dance they loved so much. Walking down the corridor, she glanced over the railing at the foyer where the television and game systems the others had procured were turned off, leaving it lonelier than usual.

Sometimes, they would come together for a game night. Tense silence becoming loud jeering and cheering as someone won and someone lost. It was easier to compete with one another, to try and work through rather than pretend. And some days when she attended, and one of the others saw her, they would give her a seat and a controller rather than make her wait or ignore her.

Perhaps it was their way of making up for treating her like a tool.

Or someone disposable.

She shook her head, standing outside of the room of the one person — no, perhaps the _only_ person who would know how that felt. Hesitantly, raising her fist, she took a deep breath then knocked.

It took a second or perhaps longer but the door opened and Roxas stood there in his t-shirt and shorts, rubbing his eyes and blinking at her slowly. Clouded with sleep and head bobbing a bit, he yawned and stepped aside.

“Come in…”

Xion smiled faintly, grateful that he didn’t ask _why_ she was there but he never did. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this and as Roxas closed the door behind her, she didn’t tense up or ask him to leave it cracked like before. It almost felt silly going to his room in the middle of the night when she had nightmare. Like she was a child when she _wasn’t_.

But Roxas didn’t judge her.

And that made a world of difference.

“You left one of your pillows last time,” Roxas said offhandedly, and Xion spied the pillow lying on his bed in the same place where she’d slept the last time she came. It was a soft white, contrasting to his darker grey and black pillows. Somehow, the colors together made her want to smile. Yet, she was curious as to why he didn’t just give it back to her.

And why was his bed still _made_?

“Were you sleeping at your window again?” Xion asked, looking to him as he wandered past her, sitting on the window ledge with his ankle resting on his knee.

Roxas stiffened up and though he tried his best not to look guilty, the reddened tinge to his cheeks gave him away.

“… Yeah…” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck with a downcast look.

Xion scowled, dumping her blankets on his bed and marching over to take him by the hand. His eyes widening as their hands touched and she resisted the urge to shudder. It was different. Holding hands without gloves. Nothing between them. Despite swinging key blades around constantly, his hands weren’t nearly as rough as she thought they might have been and they were incredibly warm.

Roxas seemed just as mystified, transfixed on their joined hands as if lost in a trance.

“You need to sleep in bed,” Xion managed to say, pulling him back toward his bed, avoiding the spherical lamp on the floor adorned with stars and mini rocket-ships. It was cute and cast a decent enough glow that she didn’t feel threatened by the shadows.

“The window’s not that bad,” Roxas mumbled, hiking his shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.

With the reddened imprint on his cheek likely from where his face had been pressed against the wood, she begged to differ.

“You were rubbing your neck, Roxas…” She pointed out, letting go of his hand once her legs bumped against the bed side and she smoothed out her blankets atop his own, sitting down. “ _Clearly_ , it isn’t that great.”

Roxas huffed, his lower lip jutting out in a slight pout. Under any other circumstance, she might have thought it was cute but not this one.

“I didn’t… realize I fell asleep until I woke up…”

A dull ache and stabbing pain wrenched at Xion’s heart. Even before gaining one, she knew what it was like to feel pain when someone she loved was hurting. And Roxas did this far too often for his own good. Scolding him wouldn’t do any good. It wasn’t as if it was his fault that he had nightmares. Bitterly, she wondered if he ever dreamt of her and the fights that they had.

Shifting back, she tucked the blankets around her legs and looked up at him, sighing softly before she spoke. “Lay with me?”

Roxas averted his gaze from her but when she asked, his head whipped around so quickly that she thought he might have casted Aeroga.

“I— Wh—“ Ruined protests parted his lips and eventually, he sighed, dragging his hand along the side of his face a few times before dropping it at his side. “Outside or inside..?”

Xion glanced between the options presented, looking down at the spherical lamp then toward the wall. It didn’t matter to her really. She just wanted to be close to him.

“You pick.”

“Mmmm….” Roxas tipped his head one way or another then looked toward the wall. He nodded his head and Xion shifted to one side, letting him climb over her and pull back the blankets, settling in close to the wall with the blankets tucked around his waist.

She was always thankful when he gave her the space to be able to leave when she wanted. Feeling trapped was the worst possible thing. And whenever they slept together like this, Roxas always let her have a clear view of the door and an escape route should she want go.

Right now though, that wasn’t what she wanted.

“So…” Roxas started, trailing off with a slight flex of his fingers as if he was unsure what to do with his hands, opening his arms to her hesitantly. “… Do you want?”

Xion resisted the urge to smile as she shifted closer to him, easing her arms around his middle and tucking her head against his shoulder, pulling him down against the pillows. Roxas followed her easily, his hand resting on her shoulder with a gentle squeeze. His hair still carried the faint scent of the ocean. Something salty and earthy, reminding her of Destiny Island but also the beach in Twilight Town where they played one afternoon.

Closing her eyes, Xion relaxed at the gentle rubbing to her shoulder and between her shoulder blades. Roxas’s touches light and shifting though never going much further than there.

“Hey Xion…?”

“Yeah?”

Roxas shifted his hand slightly, caressing her shoulder with his thumb idly brushing back and forth across her skin. “Do you want to just sleep like this from now on?”

Her eyes opened and she lifted her head, looking at him confusedly. “… Really?”

They had their own space partly because it was what they were used to but more often than not, they spent the nights together. A familiar dance to find some vestige of sleep.

Roxas stared up at the ceiling and though it was hard to see, his cheeks were flushed a light pink.

“Why not?” He asked, tipping his head to one side, coming nose to nose with her as he offered a little smile. “We always were better at fighting together. And who else is gonna keep me from sleeping at the window?”

Xion’s eyes widened. He was right about that. They made a good team. Even when it was just the two of them. And Roxas deserved to have peace in his own bed and his heart.

If she could give him that then it wouldn’t be that bad.

“… I’d like that,” Xion muttered, curling up closer to him, her head resting against his neck.

Roxas tensed up and the slow swipe of his fingers stilled, his hand lifting from touching her with a soft noise of surprise.

“… Thanks Xion,” he muttered into her hair, his hand resting on her upper arm with a light squeeze.

He always thanked her. For the little things. For the big. But she should be the one thanking him. At least, that’s how she thought about it sometimes.

“Thank you too, Roxas…”

Who the next morning came, Xion woke up earlier than Roxas as per their usual. Soft orange sun rays filtered through the curtains completely drowned out the stars on the ceiling and bathed the room in a copper glow. Roxas was still asleep and Xion took the opportunity to admire him. Spiky dirty blond hair flattened and splayed across the pillow, his face lax with sleep and terribly cute. Everything about him seeming much softer when he wasn’t scowling or frowning.

Minutes ticked by and once Roxas opened, his clouded eyes clearing and focusing on her, he smiled warmly with a sleepy sniffle.

“Morning Xion…”

Her heart fluttered and for a split second, she wondered if something was wrong with her. But no, it was just him. And she could get used to him looking at her like that.

“Morning.”

“Do we have to get up?” Roxas mumbled, running his hand up and down her side, his touch featherlight and warm like sunlight.

She melted beneath it. It didn’t feel necessary to escape this. Not when the person she felt safest with was there.

“Not right away,” she said after glancing at his alarm clock.

Roxas hummed a reply, resting his hand against her side, his cheek resting against her head as he nuzzled against her. “Was never good at getting up,” he muttered, stifling another yawn with a hand pressed over his mouth.

Xion hesitated at the feeling. It was _different_ — not bad but certainly different. Distracting herself with what he said, she h hummed. She always had gotten up early for missions — wanting to be free of the Castle’s atmosphere as soon as possible. Roxas did seem to take his time whenever he came strolling into the Castle’s foyer, and once or twice, she did see him yawning.

“If we’re sleeping together, you might make me into an early riser…” he said, opening his eyes a bit, his lips tugging into a lazy smile. “ _Might_.”

Xion laughed softly, poking his side. “It feels like you’ll turn my habit into yours.”

Though that wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

Sleeping in because she felt safe instead of waking up early to escape.

“Wait, so does that make a bad influence or…”

“I guess we’ll have to wait to see.”

Roxas smiled at her adoringly and her heart fluttered as he nuzzled her head, muttering softly. “Yeah, guess we will…”

Maybe the nights wouldn’t be as frightening anymore.


End file.
